Roller-type gravity fed shelving is typified by the roller-type commodity stand of U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,385, and the conveyor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,661. Additionally, there are also the “Volume Master” (Trademark) gravity flow tracks made by Anthony Manufacturing Company, Inc., of San Fernando, Calif. Finally, the assignee of the present application also has long made its Nyla-Rol® gravity flow shelving. Particularly, rollers transversely mounted at spaced locations along one or more track members, and with their uppermost height stationed at a point above the tracks, are used to roll-convey product along the track. In a gravity-fed alignment situation, the rear of the track is higher than the front or dispensing end, and product is fed by gravity and rolls to the frontmost available position along the track.
Because of the various products needing conveyance, e.g., half gallon milk containers on the one hand versus smaller soft drink cans and cartons of half and half cream on the other hand, product widths vary greatly. When used in retail sales settings, e.g., convenience stores, it is important that such gravity fed roller tracks not only operate smoothly, continuously feed the product to the front without a product “hangup” on any portion along the track, and can be easily installed and cleaned but that the tracks easily accommodate the various product widths. When the product widths vary greatly, different track widths, i.e., different structural track members, are needed in the prior art to accommodate large width differences.